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Subtracting additives

Beware of additives

The practice of adding ingredients composed of different chemicals to the food we eat has been around for centuries. Our ancestors used salt to preserve meats and fish. They employed herbs and spices to enhance flavor. They even learned to alter a food using a vinegar solution. These days, we enjoy foods that are flavorful, nutritious, safe, convenient, colorful, and affordable. Food additives help make this possible.

What are food additives and why are they used?

A food additive represents any substance added to food that can be used in the production, processing, treatment, packaging, transportation, or storage of food.

There are two types of food additives: Direct food additives are added to a food with intent, while indirect additives inadvertently can become part of a food in trace amounts due to packaging, storage, or handling.

Direct and indirect food additives are supposed to perform a variety of useful functions.

Maintain or improve safety and freshness: Preservatives can slow product spoilage caused by mold, air, bacteria, fungi, or yeast. Preservatives help control contamination that can cause foodborne illness and can prevent fats, oils, and other foods from becoming rancid or developing an off-flavor. They also can prevent cut fresh fruits, such as apples, from turning brown when exposed to air.

Improve or maintain nutritional value: Vitamins and minerals (and fibers) are added to many foods. They make up for what may be lacking in a person’s diet. Often the additives compensate for vitamins lost in processing or to enhance the nutritional quality of a food.

Improve taste, texture, and appearance: Spices, sweeteners, and natural and artificial flavors are added to enhance taste. Food coloring can maintain or improve a food’s appearance. Emulsifiers, stabilizers, and thickeners deliver the texture and consistency consumers expect. Leavening agents allow baked goods to rise during baking. Some additives help control acidity and alkalinity of foods. Others help maintain the taste and appeal of foods with reduced fat content.

Offset color loss due to exposure to light, air, temperature extremes, moisture, and storage conditions; correct natural variations in color; enhance colors that occur naturally; provide color to colorless and “fun” foods. (Note: Exempt color additives are not required to be declared by name on labels but may be declared simply as colorings or color added.)

How are food-additives approved?

In 1958, Americans were growing concerned about the increased use of food preservatives and additives. So Congress empowered the FDA, founded in 1938 to monitor the nation’s food supply, to have legal responsibility for determining the safety of food additives. The law required food companies to submit new food ingredients to an extensive FDA safety review board. FDA scientists evaluate the evidence that any “new” substance is safe for human consumption, and then either approve or disapprove the ingredients for use in the food supply.

Two groups of ingredients are exempted from this regulatory process, however. These include additives the FDA or U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had determined safe for use in food prior to 1958. The second group includes those additives that fall under the category termed Generally Recognized as Safe – known simply as GRAS. Experts recognize additives in this group as safe, based on an extensive history of use before 1958, or based on published scientific evidence. Salt, sugar, spices, vitamins, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) can be counted among the several thousand GRAS substances in the food supply.

GRAS regulations: Disconnect between safety and expediency

The FDA itself has publicly acknowledged the GRAS system’s shortcomings. Michael Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods in 2010 stated: “We simply do not have the information to vouch for the safety of many of these chemicals.”The GRAS rule permits food manufacturers to certify that an additive is safe based on their own published (or unpublished) research, or research they sponsor, without having to undergo rigorous outside scientific testing. Since passage of this GRAS rule, the number of food additives has skyrocketed – from about the initial 800 to more than 10,000! It appears the GRAS rule has morphed into a loophole for food manufacturers to bring products to market much quicker than if the additive were submitted to rigorous animal and human testing.

The GRAS loopholes

In 1997, under intense lobbying by food manufacturers, the FDA further streamlined the food-additive approval system to be even more “industry friendly.” They ruled that food companies no longer would have to submit their research and raw data regarding an additive’s safety. They declared that companies could simply share their research data on their GRAS-submitted proposals, when appropriate. Thus, many “new” additives continue to debut in our food supply without the FDA being notified or giving formal approval, or without rigorous human testing. And just recently (2017) the new FDA director indicated the agency will do more to help Big Pharma and Big Agra be more competitive . . . In other words, more deregulation is surely on the way. Ouch!

According to the prestigious Center for Public Integrity, two-thirds of all food-additive safety reviews are never sent to government regulators. Moreover, it is estimated that international food companies introduce a minimum of five new ingredients yearly without informing the FDA.

Consider how this could play out at your breakfast table. Let’s say Company A concludes their food-additive chemical is safe at a specific level in cereal. Company B might do the same for the same additive’s use in muffins, and Company C does the same for the same additive’s use in juices. Someone consuming all three foods could end up taking in much more of the additive than each company had anticipated.

Comments

Ron Vodicka - 1987

Fantastic article. I forwarded to myself to save this. As a food additive novice, I appreciated the succinct background writeup prior to the real intent of the article. It was great for me to read as I’m certainly now more aware. Thanks!

Michael Gross - Med 1967

Holy cow (pardon the expression) Victor. GRAS data produced before 1958 is still acceptable to FDA! Data is not even gathered or interpreted the same way any more. With more deregulation on the way, we need to be even more skeptical about what we eat and what information we swallow as well.Thank you for this alarming article. I hope you have submitted it to publications with wider distribution.

About the Author

VICTOR KATCH has been active in the exercise, nutrition, and weight control arena for more than 40 years at the University of Michigan. He earned his undergraduate degrees in international relations (political science) and physical education (kinesiology) from California State University at Northridge. He also did undergraduate work in international relations at the prestigious University of Uppsala in Sweden. Katch's graduate degrees are from the University of California, Berkeley. He is professor emeritus in movement science in the School of Kinesiology. He has three children and five grandchildren, and is an avid exerciser who enjoys year-round walking and jogging with his wife, Heather, and playing golf whenever possible, weather permitting.